Kastri ( el, Καστρί, pron. ''Kastrí'', from the

Medieval Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman co ...

word for ''small castle'' or ''watchtower'') is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

of the unit of Evrymenes,

Zitsa Zitsa ( el, Ζίτσα) is a village and a municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Eleousa. The municipality has an area of 565.566 km2, the municipal unit 65.868 km2, the c ...

municipality,

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

, NW

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Until 1950 it was named ''Siutista (''), a name still in use by the local people.

Location - Demographics

Kastri lies 43 km northwest of

Ioannina Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...

through a local road connected to the E92/ E90 route (Ioannina -

Igoumenitsa Igoumenitsa ( el, Ηγουμενίτσα, ) is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia. Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, ...

). Built at an elevation of 800 metres, it is the highest village of Mount Kassidiaris. According to the 2011

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

the permanent inhabitants are 40 persons yet the actual number differs from the statistics. The number of the all-year-round inhabitants does not exceed that of 20, whatsoever. Nevertheless, this number rises after

Eastertide Eastertide (also known as Eastertime or the Easter season) or Paschaltide (also known as Paschaltime or the Paschal season) is a festal season in the liturgical year of Christianity that focuses on celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. ...

, when some retired former villagers travel from their residence in Athens or Ioannina to their village to spend the summer period. This results in a significant increase in the number of Kastri's residents, often exceeding 100 during the August summer vacation period.

History

Kastri was founded by

Souliotes The Souliotes were an Orthodox Christian Albanian tribal community in the area of Souli in Epirus from the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century, who via their participation in the Greek War of Independence came to identify with the ...

fugitive A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

s as ''Siutista'' in the early 19th century; probably named after the adjacent mountain Kassidiaris, called Siutista at the time. The exact year is unknown, but it must have been soon after

Ali Pasha Ali Pasha was the name of numerous Ottoman pashas named Ali. It is most commonly used to refer to Ali Pasha of Ioannina. People * Çandarlı Ali Pasha (died 1406), Ottoman grand vizier (1387–1406) * Hadım Ali Pasha (died 1511), Ottoman grand v ...

conquered

Souli Souli ( el, Σούλι) is a municipality in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town of Paramythia. Name and History The origin of the name Souli is uncertain. In the earliest historical text about Souli, written ...

(1803). The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

topographer Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scie ...

William Martin Leake William Martin Leake (14 January 17776 January 1860) was an English military man, topographer, diplomat, antiquarian, writer, and Fellow of the Royal Society. He served in the British military, spending much of his career in the Mediterrane ...

mentions the village as ''Shútista'' in the 4th volume of ''Travels in Northern Greece'', published in 1835, but saves no further information about it. Monument of that first period is the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

to the

Dormition of the Theotokos The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches (except the East Syriac churches). It celebrates the "falling asleep" (death) of Mary the ''Theotokos'' ("Mother of G ...

, situated at the northern edge of the village; today only the temple of the monastery survives. In the past it had also been

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

for people suffering from

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

s. Typically the villagers of Kastri have always been stock-breeders. They also used to cultivate small amounts of

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

and

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

for domestic use, since the mountainous soil was infertile for large scale farming. After the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 16 ( O.S.) / 29 (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies r ...

and the annexation of

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

in the Greek State ( Treaty of Bucharest, 1913) the families were offered small arable properties in the nearby

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

of Upper Thyamis, which previously belonged to Ottoman institutions (''

chiflik Chiflik, or chiftlik (Ottoman Turkish: ; al, çiflig; bg, чифлик, ''chiflik''; mk, чифлиг, ''čiflig''; el, τσιφλίκι, ''tsiflíki''; sr, читлук/''čitluk''), is a Turkish term for a system of land management in th ...

s''). The

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

of 1946-1949 triggered the first wave of immigration, when members of the defeated Democratic Army fled to the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

. This was followed by a second long-lasting wave in the following decades, during which most of the villagers immigrated to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

The

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

subvention A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...

s in the 80's provided some financial support for the few remaining inhabitants to keep on living in the village. At the same period, the connection with the rural road and electricity network encouraged some emigrant families to build houses in their fatherland for use in the summer months.

Sightseeings

The winding

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

roadway driving to Kastri offers ''amazing view above the valley of Upper Thyamis as far

Tymfi Tymphe (in Latin and English usage) or Tymfi (in the Greek government's preferred transliteration), Timfi, also Tymphi (, ) is a mountain in the northern Pindus mountain range, northwestern Greece. It is part of the regional unit of Ioannina and ...

(...) such that otherwise only alpinists can enjoy''. Stephanos Psimenos «Ανεξερεύνητη Ήπειρος» (''Unexplored Epirus''), page 580. Editions Road, 2007, . Moreover, a

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...

starting from the village leads to the highest

peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...

of Kassidiaris (1329 m). The only sightseeing inside the village is the Temple of Dormition. Around the temple is held each year the traditional

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

of the village (14–16 August) organised by the ''St. George Brotherhood'', the fellowship of those born in or descended from Kastri. Another local celebration is the

feast A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

, who is considered as the village's

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kastri, Ioannina Populated places in Ioannina (regional unit) Zitsa